Sentinel Finishes Report About Oxycontin Articles

For five days in October, the Orlando Sentinel ran articles about the dangers of the powerful painkiller OxyContin. Before the final story had been published, the newspaper was alerted to relevant omissions in its depictions of two people featured in the series.

But it took the Sentinel almost three months after it independently confirmed the allegations to tell readers in a Feb. 1 article that there were errors and omissions in the stories. They are:

FOR THE RECORD - ********** CORRECTION OR CLARIFICATION PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 28, 2004 **********The continuation of an article on Page G5 of Sunday's Insight section about the Sentinel's investigation into its OxyContin Under Fire series misidentified the drug that reporter Doris Bloodsworth said she was told had killed Gerry Cover. It was oxycodone. The Medical Examiner's Office for Orange and Osceola counties, however, classified the death as having been caused by multidrug toxicity.******************************************************************************

Not reporting that an autopsy found drugs in addition to oxycodone, the active ingredient of OxyContin, in the system of Gerry Cover, 39, of Kissimmee. The newspaper account of his September 2000 death mentioned only a lethal dose of oxycodone. The paper also did not say that he had overdosed on another pain medication three months before being prescribed OxyContin.

Portraying David Rokisky, 36, who lived in the Tampa Bay area, as an "accidental addict" whose idyllic life was ruined by taking OxyContin. In fact, as the Sentinel later learned, he had a federal drug conviction and a long history of domestic-abuse allegations and financial problems.

In a front-page article on Feb. 5, the Sentinel promised readers a full accounting and immediately launched an investigation into how the reporting, editing and communication failures occurred.

Purdue Pharma, the Stamford, Conn., maker of OxyContin, charged in a series of letters to the Sentinel that these and other purported failures undermined the credibility of the entire "OxyContin Under Fire" series, which was published Oct. 19-23. The result of a nine-month investigation, the stories uncovered more than 200 deaths statewide had been linked to the prescription drug during 2001 and 2002.

"It is difficult to admit error, and we appreciate these first steps toward correcting the erroneous record created by the series of articles that ran in the Orlando Sentinel last October," said Purdue Pharma spokesman Tim Bannon. "As difficult as it may be, however, the process of correcting the record is important and must continue. Erroneous reporting about prescription medications -- like erroneous reporting about other public-health issues -- can have a devastating impact on the lives of innocent patients and those who care for them. We are committed to working with the Sentinel to set the record straight."

GERRY COVER

A handyman and father of three, Cover went to his doctor because he was seeking relief from the pain of a mild, herniated disc. He was prescribed OxyContin in April 2000.

That worried his wife, Sylvia, because she knew he previously had overdosed on pain medication, a fact outlined in a wrongful-death lawsuit she filed against Purdue Pharma and Cover's doctors in January 2003.

Reporter Doris Bloodsworth, who wrote the OxyContin series, produced an early draft of the Cover account that mentioned his prior "bad experience" with a strong pain reliever. But her supervisor, Assistant City Editor Mick Lochridge, said he cut the information because it seemed vague and he did not understand its relevance.

Bloodsworth said she did not write about the other drugs -- venlafaxine, venlafaxine metabolite, mirtazapine, alprazolam and caffeine -- found in his system during the autopsy because an official with the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner's Office told her Cover was killed by OxyContin.

Polk County Medical Examiner Stephen Nelson, retained this month by the Sentinel to examine Cover's autopsy report, said that while the Kissimmee man had taken enough oxycodone to cause his death, the other drugs also could have killed him.

DAVID ROKISKY

Rokisky said he had a high-paying job as a computer-company executive, a condo at the beach and a happy marriage until he became hooked on OxyContin. Then, he said, his life was nearly destroyed.

The former Albuquerque, N.M., policeman was used by the Sentinel as an example of an "accidental addict" in daily stories that ran as companion pieces to the main articles.

But the complaints, initially from his mother-in-law and later from Purdue Pharma, about the way Rokisky was portrayed prompted the Sentinel to take a deeper look into his background. Extensive checks of police and court records in Florida and New Mexico, plus interviews with numerous acquaintances show that the newspaper could have discovered earlier that Rokisky:

Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine in Albuquerque in December 1999. He was sentenced to six months of house arrest and three years' federal probation in April 2000. After the hearing, his now-deceased attorney told the Albuquerque Journal Rokisky "had problems" with cocaine and steroids.

Faces sentencing after pleading guilty in April 2001 to forgery in Albuquerque. A date still has to be set.

Was terminated by the Albuquerque Police Department in December 1997 for unspecified reasons. Personnel files are not public in New Mexico.